Heart of a Spider
by Marianne Silver
Summary: "Mornings. She'd never quite gotten the hang of mornings like this." A series of Natasha/Tony one-shots
1. Pretend

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Avengers, Iron Man, or any related characters and plotlines you see here.**

**This is what I'm doing in-between chapters of my Avengers/Hunger Games crossover: a series of Natasha/Tony one-shots.  
**

**There's this community on LiveJournal called The Pepperony 100, where there are one hundred one-word prompts on which you can base a "Pepperony" story. Since I'm a fan of Natasha and Tony, I've decided to attempt turning the Pepperony 100 into the (insert clever mashup of Natasha and Tony) 100. **

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**Heart of a Spider**

**98. Pretend**

He would never admit it—that's just Tony—but I see it: the way he looks at her. The stories they laugh over. How he behaves whenever she's around. I ran Tony's life for years; I still do, sometimes. I know when he sees something (or someone) he likes. I've handled countless art and car transactions. I've attended too many parties to not recognize "the look." And in all those instances, I never would have imagined the look would be turned on me.

Tony came out of captivity a completely different man. He stopped the wild partying. He set his company on a more honest path. In short, he got his priorities in line. It just so happened, after a dance and an almost-kiss, that I seemed to be included in those priorities.

At first, I thought he was suffering the effects of a concussion. Sure, we traded some interesting banter on a regular basis, but banter was the language Tony spoke. It wasn't flirting (so I thought), and it certainly didn't explain the jump from witty retorts to that soft look in his eye the night we danced together. Romance just wasn't in Tony Stark's repertoire. Or it wasn't as far as I knew.

Then suddenly, there was a "you and me" and a mention of "let's get out of here." I didn't know what to do but say yes.

We never sorted out what "you and me" meant. Tony was new to the whole romance thing, so I let it slide. But for all his lack of experience, he sure knows how to sweep a girl off her feet. Parties. Galas. Endless presents and flowers "just because." And the things he says…I spend countless daydreams replaying them in my head.

It's different, waking up next to him every morning. Sometimes, he's still asleep. Others, he's staring at me with that big dumb grin of his. "Morning, kiddo," he always says. I hate that, but I know Tony means it in the best possible way. Pet names obviously aren't his strong suit. He's the man who is good at everything he ever picks up…besides relationships. But I let that slide, too. His attempts and failures are cuter than they are disappointing.

This, though. This may be something I can't handle. I knew she was trouble the minute Tony invited her into the boxing ring in his gym. Her out-of-nowhere fighting skills, the sharp look in her eyes. She's out of Tony's reach, and I know Tony—it just makes him want her all the more. He would never admit it, though. So as long he's around, I guess we'll both have to pretend she's not a threat.

It's only a matter of time.

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**Reviews are appreciated. –MS-**


	2. Busy

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Avengers or any of the related plotlines or characters you see here.**

**This one came to me thanks to the choice of the same friend who inspired my Avengers/Hunger Games crossover. Many thanks!  
**

**Note: These one-shots are not in order. I'll try to keep a running list of them in chronological order on my profile or something once I get a few more written.  
**

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**Heart of a Spider**

**85. Busy**

Tony watched her from behind the window in the helicarrier's gym door. Surprisingly, she was all alone in the gym, going to town with a sparring pole on some poor, defenseless sandbag. She flipped about like an acrobat, feinted and parried like a swordsman of old. And for such a small thing, she sure could kick that sandbag around. It swung so fiercely that by all rights it should have knocked her on her ass, (it sure would have beat the breath out of him) but she ducked and dodged the thing like she knew where it was going to be before it was there—and maybe she did know.

At some point, he decided to open the door and step inside. This was the first time he'd gotten Natasha alone since they'd stepped up their bantering a notch and traded that one glance, and that one glance was just enough to get his mind churning.

He quickly ran through a few scenarios and lines in his mind. Not even one of them realistically ended in her melting into his arms. The Black Widow was a puzzle, Tony knew. One of those complicated ones with the itty bitty nonsensical pieces. Just when you thought you were starting to make progress, you find out that the section you've been working on doesn't go together like that at all. Tony liked a good puzzle, even if said puzzle could kill him with her pinky finger.

Rather than hitting her with any of the smooth or cheesy lines, though, he decided on a simple "Hey." He stood at a safe distance, just in case the pole went flying—accidentally or otherwise. When she didn't respond or even acknowledge his presence after a minute, Tony impatiently cleared his throat.

_Thwhack! _She did a roundhouse kick off the punching bag, skillfully hitting it with her post as she turned away. "I'm busy," she bit out, spinning her long pole about like a baton before returning her attention to her swinging foe.

"I see that," Tony rebounded, his arms behind his back. "The old man goes through, what, three of those a day? You two must blow the punching bag budget sky-high."

Nothing. _Well, aren't we friendly? _Tony thought. She'd worked for him, spied on him. They'd fought some weird-ass creatures and a power-hungry god together. You'd think she would have at least warmed up to him by now.

Even though Tony had no skill with the things, he picked up a sparring pole of his own while Natasha wasn't looking. Or, at least, he couldn't tell that she was looking. She seemed to have eyes in the back of her head, sometimes. At any rate, he approached her quickly, poised to strike her lightly on the shoulder. Before he could do anything, she whipped around, knocked him in the shins with her pole, and blew his feet right out from under him. He found himself sprawled out on the floor, winded, and slightly turned on.

"I said," she growled, "I'm busy." Rather than resuming her relentless barrage on the punching bag, though, Natasha was simply standing over him. She let out a deep breath. "Try that again."

_Huh?_ Tony thought. He didn't know Natasha well enough yet to really be able to read those expressionless expressions of hers, but that didn't sound like a woman's typical "don't-you-dare" challenge; she sounded like she legitimately wanted him to come at her again. He got to his feet, surprised himself by successfully twirling the pole around a little, and swung at her once more. She swatted his pole out of his hand with a mere flick of her wrist. Then, she sent him flying by pushing him with the pole in both hands.

Once again, he was on the floor.

"Decent effort," she said after he did a bit (okay, a lot) of groaning. "I could show you a few moves."

_Could you, now_? he thought with the raise of an eyebrow. Instead, he said, "I thought you were busy." Natasha narrowed her eyes, and Tony melted under their heat. He hopped to his feet. "Alright." He struck what he thought was a "ready" sort of pose. "Let's dance."

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**Reviews are appreciated. –MS-**


	3. Glance

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Avengers or any of the related plotlines or characters you see here.**

**See my profile for a list of these one-shots in chronological order.  
**

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**Heart of a Spider**

**22. Glance**

It was a steamy little nightclub in New York City, one that ran on so much booze that not a single person seemed to genuinely care that they were in Tony Stark's presence. That was all right—he sometimes longed for the days when he didn't need a security detail just to go out on the town unbothered.

Tony tapped the bar with his empty glass to get the bartender's attention. This one had been his first bourbon of the night, and he planned on there being many more. The words of Pepper's note echoed around his head.

_I'm sorry, Tony, but I can't do this anymore._

Another bourbon slid his way down the bar. "Keep 'em coming," Tony advised the man, toasting him in thanks before knocking back half the glass. He remembered his stomach had felt as thought it'd dropped several stories down Stark Tower. Putting the cold glass to his forehead, he shut his eyes. He'd instantly stalked into the bedroom, hoping to catch Pepper in the middle of packing, but her closet stood open and empty. The note contained other things, another apology and something thorough about stepping down from the company, but Tony didn't care about any of that. He just wanted his girl back.

What had he done? What horrible transgression had he committed that even Pepper couldn't forgive? He ran through his extensive memories, but the only thing that even came close to making sense was her aversion to the whole Iron Man thing. Maybe the encounter with Loki and that huge missile had been the last straw for her. He turned away from the bar, swirling the ice cubes in his glass thoughtfully.

The glint of familiar short red hair caught his eye. Tony sat up straighter. Was that—

Her face turned so that he could see it was, indeed, Natasha. And if she was there, then ol' Hawkeye couldn't have been far behind. Tony craned his neck a little. Sure enough, one of Natasha's hands was attached to Clint's.

He leaned against the bar, remembering the day they had first met. Natasha had had that sexy librarian thing going on: high heels, a pencil skirt. All she'd really lacked were the glasses. The way she'd moved, the way she'd kicked Happy's ass…now that Tony thought about it, he could actually remember telling Pepper, "I want one." Hell, he'd been attracted to her from day one, scary little thing though she was.

And that's when Tony had it. Thanks to the Avengers Initiative and his consulting job with SHIELD, he'd spent a lot of time with Natasha lately. In the many times she'd seen them together, Pepper must have picked up on Tony's attraction to the woman somehow. Just one time, just one wrong, appreciative glance, and his gal was gone.

It had probably just been one glance, but sometimes, one glance was all it took.

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**Reviews are appreciated. –MS-**


	4. Engine Grease

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Avengers or any of the related plotlines or characters you see here.**

**Thanks to the boyfriend for picking out this one. It was a bit tough, but I finally hammered it out.**

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**Heart of a Spider**

**86. Engine Grease**

"I'll brief you on everything when you get back. But first, we need you to talk to the big guy."

"Coulson, you know that Stark trusts me about as far as he can throw me."

"I'm sure you'll find a way."

And so, here she was at Stark tower. She tried calling Stark's cell phone, but of course, there was no response. Natasha scrolled up through the contacts SHIELD had just provided her until she reached the p's. Tapping Pepper Potts's name, she held the phone back up to her ear and waited for this call, too, to go to voicemail. Surprisingly, it didn't. "Hello?"

"It's Natasha," she said shortly, leaving no room for pleasantries. "I'm in the Stark Tower lobby. Is Tony here?"

"He's…down in the garage," said Pepper slowly. "May I ask why you're here?"

"SHIELD business." Natasha decided on the truth after some debate, growing a little impatient. Every minute wasted on questions and unnecessary talk was a minute they could be using to get to Clint and even the Tesseract. They didn't have that sort of time. Clint didn't have that sort of time. "Can you unlock the elevator for me, or do I need to do it myself?"

A heavy sigh answered her. Natasha could tell Pepper didn't like the idea of the two of them alone in the same room. The nearest elevator doors slid open, and Natasha stepped inside. Luckily, Pepper had processed the sense of "the-world-could-end-in-the-time-you're-asking-questions" on her tone. Letting out a sigh of her own as she ended the call, Natasha calmly glanced up as the elevator display switched from the first floor to ground level. _Well_, she thought, _here goes nothing_. When the doors opened, she strode out into a veritable sea of cars. Stark had possessed a small but impressive collection at his place in Malibu; clearly, that hadn't been even half of it. Natasha looked around for any sign of the billionaire.

"Pep, great, could you hand me that quarter-inch?" a voice came from underneath a nearby flame-painted hot rod. She recognized it as the one Tony had been perpetually working on during the time she was assigned to him. Pepper had once told her that Tony was never quite finished with the hot rod; he would take whole sections of the inner workings apart more than once just so it remained a work-in-progress. Apparently, it had been a project he'd started with his father. The sentiment behind leaving it unfinished was beyond Natasha.

Coming to a stop so that she was standing over him (his legs, at least), Natasha ignored the outstretched hand sticking out from underneath the hot rod and said, "We have work for you."

Sound resonated off some metal underneath the car and was followed by a loud curse. "Shit!" Tony Stark quickly rolled himself out from under the car. "You," he said, glancing around. "You said 'we.' What, are you Legion, for you are many?"

She crossed her arms, looking down at him with as stony an expression as she could manage. She couldn't help but notice his hands, blackened with engine grease. It was spread up his arms, even smeared across his chest and a little of his face. Natasha found herself staring, letting a long pause fill the air. There was something about engine grease that transformed a man. Something raw, almost primal. Suppressing a blush, Natasha corrected herself, "SHIELD has work for you." Look at her, getting all silly and girlish around a man like Stark. It was just a little engine grease.

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**Reviews are appreciated. –MS-**


	5. Morning

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Avengers or any of the related plotlines or characters you see here.**

**Thanks to the boyfriend for picking out this one. It's a bit short.**

**Heart of a Spider**

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**11. Morning**

Sunlight drifted in through a window, slowly rousing her to consciousness. As she awoke, she did a customary check of her surroundings. Huge-paneled window being bombarded with sunlight. Sheets too silky and expensive to belong anywhere she usually crashed. Without rolling over or even thinking about the previous night, Natasha knew where she was. Gently, so she wouldn't wake him, Natasha rolled over and found hersel f faced with a sleeping Stark. She sighed and shook her head. Even gripped in the throes of slumber, Tony Stark looked smug and arrogant as ever.

She surveyed last night in her memory. Through the blur of alcohol and booming music, she could remember the conversation going not at all as she'd expected. Despite all his failed overtures and his self-important public demeanor, Tony was a surprisingly grounded, enthralling person. They'd talked on an intellectual level Natasha rarely got to explore, and she'd never explored it with Stark because his outside layers were just so hard to get past. Then, he'd led her to the dance floor. And after that….

Slipping out from underneath the no-doubt mind-bogglingly pricey comforter, Natasha ran through her morning stretches. If anything, Tony's attempts at seducing her had been amusing. She was probably the only woman who'd ever told him "no." Why she'd finally said yes….

When she was finished stretching, she bent down and grabbed her clothes from where they'd fallen, putting them on as she went. Just as she was slipping on her high heels, Tony said, "Leaving?"

Natasha froze for a moment. Damn. She'd been hoping to avoid any awkward conversation and just slip out the door unnoticed. "Yeah," she said slowly as she wedged her foot into the matching heel. She turned to face him.

His expression never changed. He just looked up at her, his big brown eyes reminding her of the night she'd spent staring into them. "Alright," he shrugged, breaking through the pants and moans echoing in her mind.

Mornings, thought Natasha as she rode the elevator down Stark Tower. She'd never quite gotten the hang of mornings like this.

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**Reviews make me squee. Just saying. –MS-**


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